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Palestinians fire on Jerusalem neighborhood in daylight

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, November 14, 2000

JERUSALEM — For the first time, Palestinians have attacked Jerusalem in broad daylight.

Palestinians attacked the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo with automatic fire. Israeli tanks responded with anti-tank missiles and automatic fire toward nearby Bet Jallah.

"We consider ourselves now at war with Israel," Palestinian legislator and Fatah official Hatem Abdul Khader said. "We are free of all the restrictions and obligations that were imposed by the Oslo process. The Fatah movement, as of now, is no longer part of the peace process. The next step, the next priority, and the next strategy is to pursue, expand, and escalate this uprising."

At one point, an Israeli bus was caught in a crossfire at a nearby tunnel. Nobody was injured.

Several hours later, the roads to Jerusalem from its southern suburbs were open. By nightfall, Palestinian gunmen opened fire in Hebron, Jericho, Nablus, Ramallah and Gaza. At one point, a convoy that contained UN human rights chief Mary Robinson came under gunfire in Hebron.

"The nature of the Palestinian fighting has changed from daytime confrontations to night fighting and a focus on terrorist attacks," Col. Gal Hirsch, a West Bank military commander, said. "The Palestinian Authority is not naive. It has freed experts in terrorism."

On late Sunday, an Israeli tank fired a shell at the Palestinian Authority-owned casino outside Jericho in response to shooting attacks from the site. The casino was said to have been damaged and PA officials said the attack was unprecedented.

In the Egyptian-controlled Sinai, olive harvesters were injured by gunfire near the border with Israel during a firefight with Palestinians.

Palestinians vowed to maintain the revolt against Israel and clashes resumed on Monday. They said they would increasingly use firearms.

"Our people are now more than ever determined to pursue their struggle in the Al Aksa uprising," Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said at the Islamic summit in Doha. "It is an uprising for liberty and independence to remove the clutches of occupation. The Palestinian people know the importance of the sacrifices they have to make to realize this objective."

Many speakers at the Doha summit called for jihad, or holy war, against Israel. At one point, the contingent of Qatar, which had resisted cutting ties with Israel, was jostled at the conference.

At the same time, PA leaders appealed to Israel to accept the son of PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan for treatment in an Israeli hospital. The sources said Dahlan's son was injured during clashes with Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday, November 14, 2000



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